The Android version of the Chrome browser is getting read-aloud functionality. With this feature, users of this browser on an Android device will soon be able to have web pages read to them by selecting the ‘Listen to this page’ option.
The feature will enable people to listen to the text-based content of web pages. The functionality will get playback functionality similar to those for music or podcast apps, reports The Verge. These include pausing, changing the reading speed, fast-forwarding or rewinding the audio 10 seconds.
Other features of the read-aloud feature
Other features include changing the reading voice and the language in which the page is read aloud. According to an already available help page for the new feature for Chrome on Android, available languages would include English, German, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Hindi.
Read-aloud feature in Chrome for desktop as well
This is not the first time Google has implemented read-aloud functionality. Last year, the tech giant reportedly already tested it for the desktop version of the Chrome browser. The latter feature is hidden and must be activated manually.
An alternative way to read and translate a Web page on an Android device is via Google Assistant. This functionality involves leaving the browser and switching to the Google Assistant app.
The new read-aloud feature in the Google Chrome app for Android is supposedly only visible in a beta version for now, but version 125 of the Android Chrome app seems to have the feature already.
Also read: Google brings the Android stack to ChromeOS